The Black Peril
The Black Peril by W. E. Johns was first published in March 1936 by John Hamilton. Around the same time, it was also serialised in 10 parts in Modern Boy from issue #366 to #375 Feb to Apr 1935 under the title "Winged Menace". There have been at least 12 subsequent editions in the English language. From the mid-1950s, the editions generally carried the revised title "Biggles and the Black Peril". Like The Cruise of the Condor and Biggles Flies Again, major editorial changes were made to the postwar editions in an attempt to modernize the setting. The events in the book take place in England and then on the Baltic coast from Germany to Russia. The book is notable for being the story where Biggles and Algy first meet Ginger. Synopsis Biggles and Algy are out on a joyride when they meet bad weather and are forced to spend the night on a lonely creek on the Norfolk coast. There they encounter a mysterious large flying boat landing in the same spot. Almost by accident, Biggles and Algy investigate the mystery, with a little help from Ginger. Plot Note: The sections below contain spoilers. In particular, the plot subpage (click here) has an extended summary of the narrative in the book Characters *Biggles *Algy Lacey *Ginger Hebblethwaite *Smyth *Benton *Squadron Leader Taglen *Colonel Barlow *"Blackbeard" *Darton *Hesterley *Sir Harding Boyce *Serge Aircraft *Vickers Vandal *Blackbeard's large flying boats - similar to Dornier X but with 8 engines *Blackbeard's seaplane *Heinkel HE 8 seaplane - of the Royal Danish Naval Air Service *Hawker Nimrod Places Visited *Brooklands *Cramlington *Newcastle-upon-Tyne *Holtenau *Christianbad *Hendon Mentioned *Danzig *Konigsberg Research Notes Editorial changes *The Thames editions (1950s) and Dean and Sons editions (1960s) incorporated drastic changes to the text with the aim of modernizing the setting for a younger audience. Unlike the changes to Biggles Flies Again, these changes do not set up disastrous continuity issues. They simply have the effect of making more vague the year in which the story is set. *Mr Roger Harris has done a detailed analysis of the editorial changes.[http://www.biggles.info/Details/06/The%20Black%20Peril/ Roger Harris, The Black Peril URL] The changes fall roughly into three categories as detailed below. *Attempts to hide the 1930s setting: **Mentions of the Vickers Vandal are removed. In the later editions, it is simply an amphibian. All physical descriptions which suggest the aircraft is a biplane, the type of engine and old engine start procedures like swinging and shouting "contact" are removed. **Other aircraft mentions also had the same treatment. Blackbeard's seaplane could not have a biplane tail anymore. The large flying boats were no longer likened to the Dornier X because that would have been too suggestive of the 1930s. The Danish seaplane which Biggles encountered on the way home is no longer a Heinkel. The Fleet Air Arm fighters which escorted him at the end are no longer specified as Hawker Nimrods. **Mention of Brooklands are removed--it was a popular aerodrome in the 1930s but not thereafter. Probably the same reasoning led to the mentions of Holtenau being removed. It is not clear however why Hendon had to be changed to London airport. *Attempts to remove suggestions that Germans formed part of the adversaries Biggles had to face. This was probably to keep in line with the Cold War realities the 1950s readers understood. **German labelling on the machinery Biggles discovered at the beginning of the story were no longer mentioned. He simply said it was in Russian. **Likening the large flying boats to the Dornier X was removed. It also done to hide the 1930s setting. **Blackbeard's seaplane no longer had swastikas on its wings and fuselage. It was no longer a German make--it became a Russian one. **Blackbeard was a German in the original. In the later editions, he became a Russian. *Attempts to remove confusing details. **In the original, after departing from the Baltic coast of Russia, Biggles had to fly east to Sweden? References to the past *Biggles mentions that they had just returned from South America, referencing the events in The Cruise of the Condor and Biggles Flies Again. Incongruities In my Dean and Sons edition (and perhaps others) Ginger introduces himself with the name 'Habblethwaite', perhaps merely a typo for 'Hebblethwaite'. Chronology *Biggles tells Ginger clearly that they are in 1934. *Biggles also mentions that they had just come back from South America. The footnotes reminds the reader of The Cruise of the Condor but curiously, does not mention Biggles Flies Again although the Vickers Vandal was the plane that appeared in the latter. Editions References Category:Books Category:Edition research needed Category:Biggles books Category:Interwar era books